Festival Button $5 – It’s your ticket to the Festival

And our Festival t shirts in slim or box cut tees in a variety of great colors all in ultra soft cotton.

All Festival Merch is available prior to the Festival at Wegman’s and at the Ithaca Farmers’ Market. Merch is also sold during all Festival days at multiple booths all over the festival. Show your support of this year’s Festival ” Finger Lakes Luau” by purchasing a festival t shirt or button –  without merchandise sales the festival would not be possible.

And download the Schedule of Events 2012 available now!

Full schedule will be made available on May 5th.

Alan Rose and the Restless Elements,  Alohi Polynesian Dance Academy,  Andrew Alling, Anna Coogan,  Auntie Emo and Ukulele Friends,  Ave Mack,  Bella Voce,  Bernie Milton Tribute Band,  Bert Scholl & Friends,  Big Mean Sound Machine,  Bill Masters,  Black is Green,  Blue Skies, Blue Sky Mission Club,  Bümph!,  Burns And Kristy,  Capoeira Ithaca, Cayuga Blue Notes,  Cayuga Chimes Women’s Chorus,  Cayuga Wizards,  Charlie Young, ComedyFLOPs,  Common Railers,  CSMA Recorder Ensemble,  DAADs,  Danza Romani, Dave Caughey,  Diamonds in the Rough,  Diana Leigh Jazz Quartet,  Djug Django, Doll Eyes,  El Caminos,  El Rumbon,  Elisa Sciscioli with Solstice,  Emilie Rose,  Fall Creek Folk,  Fight a Scary Dog,  Finger  Lakes Magic Club,  Finger Lakes Fitness Center: Zumba w/ Felipe,  Flumerflutes,  Free Boody Institute,  Gadje, GoGone,  Greatest Common Factor,  ITE Chamber Orchestra,  Ithaca High School A Cappella Club,  Ithaca is Klezmer, Ithaca Talent Education Young Violinists, Violists, and Cellists,  Jayne and Bram,  JOMO & JOHNNYCAKE,  Judy Stock,  June with Chandani Belly Dance Troupe of Ithaca, Kaboosh!,  Katherine and Bo Aelias,  Ken Coulson,  Kid N0va,  King Sized Pegasus,     Kites In Space,  Larry Real,  Living My Last Day,  Low ‘N Lonesome,  Lucey’s Hooch,  Luke G. & the Goodsports,  Magic Garden Puppets,  Mandy Caughey,  Mantra and Mantrella,  Mark Rust,  Mary Lorson and the Soubrettes,  Miche Fambro, Mike Brindisi & The New York Rock,  Mirage Belly Dancers of Ithaca,  Mutron Warriors, Nancy Spero with Joe Hayward and Friends,  Nate & Kate,  Nate & Kate Kids Show,  Nate the Great,  New Roots Charter School Chamber Ensemble,  New Roots Charter School Chorus,  New Roots Charter School Jazz Ensemble,  New Roots Dance Crew,  Nick Bullock School of Rock,  Not From Wisconsin,  Official 2012 Ithaca Festival Hula Dance Team,  Old English,  Origin Brass,  Palante Afro-Latin Dance & Percussion Ensemble,  Panorama Chess Promotions,  PETE PANEK & THE BLUE CATS,  Polly and Travis,  Record New Highs,  Regina O’Brien, Running to Places Theatre Company,  Second Dam,  Seidaiko Taiko Drumming,  Seneca Street Recorder Ensemble,  Shimmer Lake,  Sim Redmond Band,  SOUK: Middle Eastern Grooves, SSWAMPZZ,  Starts on Friday,  State & Plain,  Steve Southworth and the Rockabilly Rays,  Sundown Sally,  Sunnyside,  Tandemonium Yoga: Dance and Music Collective, Temuchin,  The Ageless Jazz Band,  The Atomic Forces,  The Black Walnut Band, The Blind Spots,  The Concrete Slacks,  The Destination,  The DixieKats,  The Fly Rods, The GoCats,  The Grady Girls,  The Gunpoets,  The Hog-Tie Sessions,  The Notorious String Busters,  The Purple Valley,  The Small Kings,  The Sound Awake, The Tarps,  The Wallpaper,  The Xskavators,  Thirteen South,  Toivo,  Tom Mank and Sera Smolen,  Tompkins County Amateur Radio Club,  Traonach,  Trio Los Claveles,  Tru Bleu,  Ukulelese As a Second Language,  Vision Dance Group,  Vitamin L, Wassa Pan Afrika Dance Ensemble,  Wayne Gottlieb and the No Good Doneys,      Wind and Wire, Why The Wires,  Zajal the Sugarplum Fairy–and Friends!,  Zela Zola,  Zydeco Trail Riders

Thanks to all the performers for their time and energy –  Here’s looking forward to a great Ithaca Festival!

Other groups may be added. Please look for our official schedule available  May 5th.

You are invited to join the Official 2012 Ithaca Festival Hula Dance Team!

No experience is necessary and all are invited to join!

Always conspiring to keep Ithaca on its toes, this year the Ithaca Festival, May 31st – June 3rd, will feature dance performances by the ‘Official 2012 Ithaca Festival Hula Dance Team’ lead by Julianne Wrolstad of Hula Hut Polynesian Dance. Each year, the Festival works to devise new ways to involve and celebrate members of our community and the Finger Lakes Luau theme inspired the creation of a Hula Dance Team. The Team provides a perfect opportunity for our community to learn about Hawaiian dance and culture as well as featuring the talents of local dancers. No experience is necessary and all are invited to join the Team, which will rehearse weekly at The City Health Club, 402 Green St., beginning April 7th. There is a $60 registration fee that covers costumes, the registration deadline is April 15th.

Rehearsal Schedule:

SAT – 4/7 – 12:30-2:30pm

SUN – 4/15 – 2-4pm

SUN – 4/22 – 2-4pm

SUN – 4/29 – 2-4pm

SUN – 5/6 – 2-4pm

SUN – 5/13 – 2-4pm

SAT – 5/19 – 12:30-2:30pm

SUN – 5/20 – 2-4pm

SAT – 5/26 – 12:30-2:30pm

SUN – 5/27 – 2-4pm

And yes, this is dancing not hooping.

Registration open until April 15^th

For more information contact:

Julianne Wrolstad: hulahut2005@yahoo.com,

or 607-229-4637

There are many reasons that the Festival has decided to remain downtown this year although to be honest the biggest of these is financial. The move to Stewart Park is very expensive and one of the biggest goals this year is to get the Festival into great financial shape for 2013. The City of Ithaca is on the verge of charging for special event services that include but are not limited to fees for police, DPW and other city services. The Festival uses quite a bit of IPD help during Festival weekend especially at the parade and in Stewart Park as well as support from DPW and other city departments. In order to be able to pay the fees that we will most definitely incur in 2013 we must take a proactive and conservative approach to our financial resources. This is not to say however that we will not be returning to Stewart Park, in fact we very much hope to, but in order to ensure the stable future of the festival so that there is a festival we are taking a fiscally conservative approach in 2012.

Each year the festival raises enough revenue through the sale of vending real estate and sponsorships as well as donations and grants to host the Festival infrastructure. It is the sales of Festival merchandise that fluctuates and gives us our programming revenue. So basically the equation is, more merchandise sales = more cool programming at the festival. The more money we have to pay performers, host stages, sponsor artist groups etc., the more we can present at the festival. So when we suggest that the button is “ Your ticket to the Festival” it really is true. Of course there are other great ways to help the festival too, volunteering or making a donation or having your business become a sponsor; all great ways to help out.

It is so gratifying that the Festival has become such a part of who we are as Ithacans  that it would seem absurd to forgo Stewart Park. It is a favorite day of the Festival and of the year, this we freely admit. But even as we conserve for next year please know that we have a great line up of fun and exciting festival programming in the works for downtown. We will be expanding a little around the edges with many new things to look forward to and we will be working in many of the Stewart Park favorites in unexpected locations that will no doubt bring a magic of their own.

Finger Lakes Luau. This theme draws on the Hawaiian tradition of the Luau, a gathering or party that emphasizes the concepts of friendship, hospitality, music and culinary bounty.

With a focus on a Finger Lakes take on the traditional celebration we will embrace local foods and food sources, the natural beauty of the area and our local culture and community ties.

Above all a Luau is meant to be fun – perfect for the Ithaca Festival!

We would like to thank Ithaca College for waste management services and infrastructure support, Ithaca Foreign Car for the volvo raffle car, City of Ithaca for support services, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance and all the Commons merchants for support and understanding, and Wegmans for hosting our pre-festival merchandise sales. Many thanks to all our wonderful sponsors and patrons who financially support the festival.

Come to our first ever themed masquerade ball on Friday, June 3, at the Farmers Market featuring the Sim Redmond Band. Costumes encouraged… feed two birds with one scone and wear your masquerade ball costume to the costume contest the day after on Saturday, June 4!

Check out the facebook event for more information and RSVP here!
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122953741118010

or here….

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147355685334480

Sorry about the two facebook events, they’re both the same event. You can also learn more about it on our masquerade ball page. So many places to find information!!

No idea where these categories came from? Here’s a rundown. In the play there are three main groups of people, the couples who are getting married, the working-class amateur actors who are putting on a play for entertainment at the wedding, and the fairies who cause general mayhem in the lives of humans work it all out in the end. The couples create our Lovers category; the play is set in ancient Athens so think togas and gold circlets. The actors, who are presenting the ‘play within a play’ are the Mechanicals which was a slang term for their general kind of professions, ex. weaver, tailor, bellows-mender. Feel free to pull costume ideas from any point in the play – their profession, their play character, or Bottom’s transformation into a mule! For the fairies be as creative as you wish… masks, body paint, jewels, wings.

Trophies for the best of the best in each category! The contest will take place Saturday, June 4 at 5pm at the Bernie Milton Pavilion. For more information about the costume contest and theme related activities click here.